No Flatfooting Allowed: Transcending Inertia and Leveraging Imbalance

“The fact of consultation implies anxiety or discontent.”
- Aleister Crowley in The Book of Thoth

AUTHOR’S NOTE: The inspiration for this essay comes from an observation in Ethan Indigo Smith’s book The Tao of Thoth about the martial-arts aspect of Taoist philosophy and the risk of standing flatfooted in the middle of the ring like a punch-drunk boxer. (I’ll get back to Crowley in a moment.)

“One of the most important rules in Taiji is to never be double-weighted. Never have your weight placed equally, always have one leg holding more weight than the other. always maintain a Yin side and a Yang side beginning with weight distribution.”

This makes perfect sense when we understand that Taiji is an art of economical coordinated movement, in which there are eight combat forms that rely on this shifting of weight. It stands to reason that an offset posture will enable both forceful advance and nimble retreat as the situation demands, since “pushing off the back foot” is a common maneuver in many sports. (It makes me think of Muhammed Ali’s motto “Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.”)

Another instance of this concept comes from French tarot author Joseph Maxwell in his discussion of active odd numbers and passive even numbers: the former strive to recover from imbalance while the latter are intent on preserving the equilibrium of the status quo. The preferred state depends on the situation, and in the I Ching the odd numbers are yang (assertive) and the even numbers are yin (responsive and receptive).

When it comes to tarot reading, Crowley’s assumption is right on target. Idle curiosity aside, few people will seek a reading when they’re perfectly content with their lives. They want to know if and when unpleasant or uncertain conditions are going to change for the better, and in the most severe circumstances there may be nowhere for them to go but up.

If all of the cards in a spread are pleasant in nature, it’s tempting to advise the querent “It looks good; don’t worry, be happy” when in fact the cards are saying “There is no momentum here, things have settled in as they are and you’ll just have to wait it out for a while, but at least there will be no surprises.” Returning to an uneventful steady-state with no residual progress is not necessarily conducive to self-improvement. Alternately, a mixed population of harmonious and discordant cards can create the incentive to leverage their contrasting energy to good effect; I once likened this to a “roller-coaster ride” with its anticipatory “ups” and heart-stopping “downs,” where the ideal mindset is to value the stimulus even when we’re hanging on by our fingernails.

Dr. James Wanless has observed “There are no bad cards, only opportunities.” While I’m not entirely convinced of this since I think some of them are inherently intractable, in practice it’s true enough. A “bad” card when taken out of context may seem especially nasty, but within the overall scope of the narrative it could reflect exactly what is needed at the time and place it appears. In such cases, assuming the other cards are positive or neutral, it is better to be cautiously optimistic than blindly pessimistic, and the reverse is true for “good” cards sandwiched between more discouraging companions.

The important thing to remember is that some kind of movement is likely, and the objective is to steer it in a constructive direction to the best of our ability. We may be able to strike boldly, or we may have to block, but we must always invoke our awareness of the dynamic contrast between thrust and parry in order to overcome or sidestep any obstacles; standing pat should not be considered an option if we want to avoid taking a knock-out blow.

I would surmise that “flatfooted” and “fatheaded” go hand-in-hand, and the best tarot reading in the world won’t absolve us of those pernicious traits if we fail to pay attention and refuse to act on our own behalf out of a misguided sense of destiny. Why ask for a reading if we think we know it all? Maybe we should consult the cards for a “vote of confidence” in our presumed success path before we become too enamored of it.

Originally published at http://parsifalswheeldivination.wordpress.com on October 21, 2024.